Jack Wilshere believes Japan have the potential to become a major force in world football.
Arsenal will play two matches in the country later this month - against Nagoya Grampus and Urawa Reds - as part of this summer's Far East tour.
Wilshere is looking forward to testing himself against some of the best players in the J-League and says the national team is improving all the time.
“Without a shadow of a doubt [there could be a future World Cup winner from Asia],” he told Arsenal Player. “They have great players and there are more and more in Europe these days.
“Japan can be a force to be reckoned with. They have a great national team and it will be interesting to go over there and face their teams. When we play against them with England we know we are in for a tough game.
“The players are more technically gifted than physically gifted. They keep the ball well and they cover a lot of ground, so they are tough opponents.”
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
